A Dangerous Element
by ElegantButler
Summary: A tale of two unlikely lovers.


A Dangerous Element

(A SephiDemy One-Shot)

By Axel Ingleson

The last thing Demyx could remember was losing his most prized possession.

He had been certain that what would follow next would be eternity in oblivion. If not complete annihilation.

He had not expected this. He didn't even know how it had happened. But somehow he had been summoned back into being just at the point of what some might call death. Summoned by a force that he could not explain or even comprehend.

"Who are you?" the silver-haired man demanded. "What are you doing invading my home?"

"This is your home?" Demyx asked. He thought the older man looked a little out of place in the quaint little cottage they appeared to be in. He would probably be more at home, at least in Demyx's mind, at Ansem's laboratory. Demyx was nearly gutted when he said as much.

"The last thing I want is to spend more time in a laboratory," he said. "Now, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Well," Demyx began. "My name is Demyx. As for being here. I haven't got a clue. Something pulled me here when I was about to die."

"Well, I'm sorry that your death was so rudely interrupted," the silver-haired man sneered. "If you'd like to resume it, I'll gladly oblige. Consider it my gift to you."

"Oh," Demyx groaned to himself, turning away from Sephiroth for a moment, "I knew this was going to be a bad day."

"You've been having a bad day?" Sephiroth gave a derisive snort. "I just spent an exhausting half hour fighting with some snot-nosed punk who I should've bested in five seconds. That kid has an unlimited streak of beginner's luck."

"Roxas is a total idiot," Demyx admitted. "And he still got the better of me. I mean, how could he attack me like that? I thought he was my friend."

"I didn't think you guys had friends. I mean, what about the no hearts thing?"

"I can't speak for the others, but I know I have one. I used to be able to prove it, but…"

"But what?"

"I just…" Demyx paused. "Wait a sec… you wouldn't happen to be Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth nodded dangerously.

Demyx started for the door, but Sephiroth grabbed the hood of his coat and held him fast.

"So, you were saying?" Sephiroth asked, in a tone that was both soft and menacing.

Demyx swallowed hard.

"I was just saying that when I had my sitar I could play the most beautiful melodies. They used to call me the Melodious Nocturne. Now I'm nothing."

"Why not try summoning your sitar again?"

"Because it was destroyed." Demyx sulked. "I just told you that."

"If it's truly part of you," Sephiroth told Demyx, "it will never leave you. Not really. Masamune, my sword," he added, seeing the bewildered look on the water-mage's face, "always comes back to me. Even when it's been destroyed, or buried in the earth or encased in a glacier, it always comes back and always in perfect condition. If your sitar is like Masamune, it will also come back. Try it. You'll see."

"Why are you being so helpful?" Demyx wondered aloud. "I was never told you were the caring and nurturing type."

"I'm not," Sephiroth grinned, wickedly. "I just don't like to fight an unarmed opponent. Been there once. It wasn't a very satisfying kill, to be honest. I mean, sure, there was the satisfaction of seeing my enemy's face as his loved one was only still upright because my sword was sticking through her. But…"

Demyx was too busy throwing up to hear the rest of it.

"I guess you really do have a heart," Sephiroth allowed. "Well, not for much longer. Summon your weapon. If you can call a sitar a weapon. Summon her and we'll do battle. Then I'll run that heart of yours through with my sword."

Demyx raised his arm above his head, and performed a summoning that he was certain would not work.

To his surprise and delight, his sitar was once again in his hands.

Sephiroth raised Masamune to strike a killing blow, but paused suddenly as the first notes of Demyx's sitar began to fill the air around him. The song seemed to vibrate through him, as though the very molecules of his body were dancing.

Sephiroth finally mastered himself. He glared at Demyx and grabbed him by the throat.

"Why should I let you live?" he demanded. "Give me a good reason."

"You like my music?" Demyx ventured.

"There are others who can probably play even better than you." Sephiroth countered. "I need a better reason."

"Perhaps because I can cause you to feel pleasure in a way that no one else can?" Demyx hoped.

"Still no good," Sephiroth shook his head. "I can get that sensation from a bath in an expensive sauna. Not that I'd ever bother with such a thing, mind you. Try again."

Demyx thought it over. Sephiroth needed a good excuse not to kill him. What…

Wait a minute? Sephiroth needed a good excuse? Or wanted one? Which was it.

Demyx turned to Sephiroth.

"Did you actually need this excuse. Or is this something you want?"

"Is there a difference?" Sephiroth asked, dangerously.

"I think so," Demyx shrugged. "Don't you?"

"Hmph," Sephiroth grunted.

"Well, if you mean you want an excuse, how about this? You love me and couldn't bear to live without me."

Sephiroth began to laugh. "That's just the most…"

"Ridiculous thing you ever heard?" Demyx sulked.

"Not at all," Sephiroth admitted. "I've heard something more ridiculous than that. Did you know that there was once this idiot pervert scientist who claimed he was my father? He thought I didn't know. But I did. Like I'd ever believe that. I used to think I knew who my mother was. But now I'm not so sure."

"So you need someone that you can hang onto, like a lifeline. Someone who will be there for you when you're lonely."

"I don't get lonely," Sephiroth glared at Demyx.

"Of course you do," Demyx smiled, sadly. "You've just buried those feelings under so much anger that they're hard to recognize any more. Somewhere, somehow, someone has taught you that it's unmanly or unbefitting you someone like you to shed a tear. It's not, Seph. Please. You don't have to hide yourself from me."

Sephiroth picked up Masamune once more and raised it to strike. "Enough!" he roared. "How dare you suggest I would even consider loving someone as weak as you!"

Demyx once again began to play his sitar. This time he was playing for keeps. It felt the same as when he had fought against Roxas. That had hurt so much. To have found a long-lost friend, only to be rejected and then beaten down by him. This time it was a new friend he was going into battle against. If only Sephiroth had realized that there had been a chance at friendship between them. That Demyx could heal the hurt that so many had caused him.

"Seph," Demyx offered as he began to play a savage tune on his sitar, "there's still time to change your mind. My offer of friendship still stands. But I'm getting really angry. And if you've ever been to sea, then you know that water can be the deadliest element."

"I don't need a wimp like…"

**WHAM!**

Sephiroth was sent flying backward by the unexpected impact of Demyx's sitar against his midsection.

"I warned you," Demyx glared. "Don't. Tick. Me. Off. I'm a really nice guy. But only so long as someone else is nice to me. Like I told you before. I have feelings. And like anyone else, I don't like having them toyed with."

"Which feelings are those, pray tell?" Sephiroth asked. "I'd like to crush them."

"The same ones you claim you don't have," Demyx dared to reply.

Sephiroth hadn't counted on that.

"I find it hard to believe that a musician as talented as you are doesn't have a lot of fans." He found himself saying. Well, he reasoned to himself, he could always kill the musician in question after this conversation. No one ever need know it even took place.

"Well, it's not as if I do concerts or anything," Demyx admitted. "I mean, what concert hall is going to hire someone who'll do a few thousand munny worth water-damage every time he does a show?"

"Maybe you just need a manager with a sharper edge?" Sephiroth suggested, eyeing Masamune with a meaningful look.

"I'd rather just have one person who truly cared for me, than a million screaming groupies." Demyx told him, giving him a kitten-eyed look that he was certain would win over the silver-haired ex-general.

"You're either extremely stupid or overly optimistic," Sephiroth glared into those adorably glittering eyes.

Demyx did not back down. Neither did Sephiroth.

There must've been something in Sephiroth's glare that Demyx perceived that made him take the risk. Before either of them really knew what was going on, the sitar player had summoned a small wave to raise him to Sephiroth's height and had kissed the silver-haired man square on the mouth.

Sephiroth grabbed Demyx's collar and returned the kiss with fierceness that both frightened and elated the water-mage. Then he dragged him into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

For the next two hours, a lot of noises could be heard out on the street (neither of them had bothered to close the bedroom window) that caused a lot of heads to turn.

When it was finally over (much to the relief of the rather shocked neighbors), Sephiroth looked at Demyx with a smug expression on his face.

"Well, now I have a good excuse for keeping you alive," he said.

"Oh?" Demyx asked.

Sephiroth nodded. "You're better in bed than Cloud."


End file.
